So Perfect
by vampyremiyu
Summary: Machi hates perfection. But what happens when she's faced with the need to, once again, be perfect? Told from Machi's point of view. WARNING for possible spoilers for those who have not finished the manga. Yuki/Machi centric. Oneshot.


SO PERFECT  
A Fruits Basket Ficlet

Written by Miyu, Vampire Princess

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Something I dared myself to come up with within an hour or so. Been a while since I've challenged myself to do that. Yuki x Machi centric. Told from Machi's point of view. Dramatic and angsty fluffiness. A Standard Disclaimer follows the story.

--

I hate perfection.

More appropriately, I loathe it.

It stems from a childhood full of competition. The need to be perfect. The want to be in first place. My mother was always so strict about how I should act. How I should appear and how I should behave.

"It's a boy!"

"A boy!"

"Congratulations!"

But then the family competition ended. An heir had been born. I no longer needed to be in first place. I no longer needed to be perfect. I should have been relieved.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I was just playing with him, momma."

"Get away from him!"

Instead, I was placed aside.

I was no longer needed.

It hurt for the longest time. Living on my own with no one but my half-brother to help me out. Well, he didn't really. Unless he was making some kind of sarcastic comment or laughing like an idiot. But he was all I had. He'll never know how grateful I really am.

SLAP. "Hey that hurt!"

Especially if he keeps acting like a moron.

Filled with nothing but hatred and sadness, I went about my life. When I got assigned to the student council in high school, I felt a small bit of pride. I worked hard for my grades and was happy that, for once, my hard work was being recognized.

That's where I met him.

Mister Perfect. The Prince of the school. Head of the Student Council.

"Are we ready for our meeting?"

"Yes!"

Yuki Sohma.

A third-year, he was the talk of the school. Good grades. Good manners. Everyone thought he was perfect. He certainly looked it. And that's why I hated him.

Then I found out he wasn't so perfect. He started to talk to me. He even gave me a Mogeta figure as a present. It was a slow process, but as I learned more about him, I realized what the other students couldn't.

He wasn't what everyone thought he was.

And that's when I fell in love with him.

I've slowly ebbed myself from this loathing of perfection. And Yuki's helped a lot. As a friend. As a boyfriend. And as a husband. He's always been there for me. Kakeru, too, even I do still slap him around from time to time. He still deserves it.

Perfect doesn't have to be excessive, formal and utterly flawless. I understand that now.

"Congratulations, Mrs. Sohma."

But sometimes it comes back to haunt me.

"Really?"

"The tests came back positive."

Especially now that I'm going to be a mother.

"So I'm..."

"Yep, you're pregnant. Nearly two months along."

Even with Yuki here to help me, I can't help myself. The need to be perfect just comes over me with a passion and force that's terrifying. The perfect mother. With the perfect nursery, the perfect clothing, the perfect everything. I hate myself when I feel that way.

And sometimes, I hate my child.

"Why must you be so perfect, little one?"

Like right now.

"Machi?"

I'm startled. Yuki's home early, as he's been now that I'm entering my final trimester. "I'm just...thinking."

"About the baby?"

Sitting in what will be my child's nursery -- completely furnished by his family, the wonderful (if not strange) people that they are -- I can't help but rock back and forth in the ornate rocker his brother bought us. In my hands is a picture. And as I look at it, I'm filled with extreme giddiness. With overwhelming happiness.

"Yes."

"Again?"

"It's just so...so..."

And devastating sadness.

"Healthy," he offers as he comes to stand by my side. "See? All fingers and toes present and accounted for." He looks hard at the photo again, leaning over the chair. "I don't remember that being there before."

"Yeah, that's new," I reply with a shadow of a smile.

A sigh. "I guess I'll have to take the doll house back."

"I suppose." Tears fill my eyes as I continue to look at the picture in my hand. It's not the fact that we'll have to change up the nursery that bothers me. At least we painted it a neutral color. "Yuki?"

"Hmm?"

"What if I can't do this?" I ask, suddenly flooded with emotion. I'm told it's a hormonal thing. Completely normal. Bother, I say.

"What?"

"What if I'm a horrible mother?"

He kisses my forehead and squeezes my shoulder. It's the most comfort I can get in the chair. It's not designed for allowing hugs. But looking into his eyes I see nothing but concern and love. He has his own fears, his own apprehensions over becoming a parent. I've met his family, his mother and brother.

Between the two of us, we're going to be quite a pair.

"We'll do our best. It's all we can do."

"But..."

But we're going to do everything our parents didn't.

"You'll be a great mother."

"But look at him. He's so...so..."

"Tiny?"

"That, too."

He kisses me again, this time on the lips. And I sigh as he pulls away. He's not going to let me win this argument. Gods, I love him.

The tears start flowing as I look again at the picture. Perfection. Do we really all start out this way? Or is it only an illusion?

"Yuki..."

"I know," he says, smiling against my cheek. "He's perfect."

"So very perfect."

And so are we.

--OWARI--

DISCLAIMER:  
Fruits Basket is owned by Natsuki Takaya/HAKUSENSHA - TV TOKYO - NAS - Fruba Project and licensed by FUNimation Productions, Ltd (for anime distribution) and Tokyopop (for manga distribution). All copyrights go to them and not me. All characters are used here without permission. Please do not sue. I have no money, although I would be happy to give away my bills.


End file.
